France AAR -Demo - long post

[3iff]

AAR France scenario, playing Portugal as single player on easiest setting.

My first 'actual' game so bear with some of the stupid things I do. Hopefully it will help to guide other new players.

Slightly overwhelmed, I decided to follow the starting advice and built a new industrial goods centre. I also added a timber centre and Consumer goods factory. I begin building land units but inadvertently build far too many supply trucks (watch out for that continuous build option).

The other countries were quietly building up too. The World Market offered me a few units for free, patrol helicopters and missiles which I eagerly grabbed. There were also 4 leopard tank units offered at an 80% markup but I bought them as I had no tank builing capability.

I managed to control my economy to generate a profit, mainly selling these extra industrial goods. I found a place to build an ore mine (in the north near the Madrid border). I also found a supply of oil in Barcelona waters near Gibraltar so I offered a mass of cash for the land (about 12 hexes) and they sold it to me. I'm sure I overpaid badly. I built an Oil Derrick there. It's not a great site but every bit helps.

November 2010 and Marseilles declares war on Paris. Their attack is mainly unsuccessful and I watch land changing hands, as Paris joins up with their western enclave and drive south to Lyon. Paris kill 2 units for every one they lose (losses 30-60 in favour of Paris).

I continue to watch from a distance. I discover many ships in my reserve and decide to sell about half at ~$54m apiece. My treasury is now $5000m where other countries are around $2500m. My DAR is 35% and overall score is 9000+ vs ~6000 for the others. Due to inaction elsewhere, I cut back on unit production. Marseilles hangs on and forms a shaky stalemate line but Paris continues to have the edge.

Probably Jan or Feb 2011, Barcelona declare war on Paris. This is my opportunity. I have a mass of units on the Barcelona border so I bring more reserves out and launch an attack on Barcelona 2-3 days later. Finding my units have a tendency to chase after the enemy, I reduce unit initiative to zero. (This might be an error - I shall have to see!). Despite some appalling unit management, I manage to push my way up through southern Spain. Unit losses are around 5-1 in my favour. In some months of fighting, I capture Barcelona (the capital) and net $390m. Cash has grown to $7000m despite doing nothing to 'help'. Some units have got a bit too far from supply and run out of fuel but my masses of supply trucks help recovery.

Date unknown, Barcelona is down to a small area in the north between Madrid and Paris. My depleted attack force is preparing to engage their last mass of units (via artillery battles) when I get an unpleasant surprise. Marseilles, still reeling from continued Paris pressure (Paris having gained around 200,000 land from their counter attack), decides to declare war on me! I can't understand why they would want to do this but I panic as I'm not prepared for this event. My final battle to eradicate Barcelona as an entity is put on hold as I move some of these units eastward to protect the city of Barcelona.

Worse follows as Madrid also hit me. This is a catastrophe. I have units to the north and east of Portugal (not entrenched though!) but hardly enough for the job. I have almost nothing between south Portugal and Barcelona city. Madrid have lots of units and LOTS of tanks. They continue to get WM unit offers while I get nothing. Madrid don't attack northern Portugal but push into my east and south borders with ease. I scramble to entrench what little I have and somehow hold. NW of Barcelona city I fall back (I'm pushed back in disarray actually) while in southern Spain the Madrid forces have free reign. Fortunately, the terrain is so hard going that only a few mobile units venture south.

A small Marseilles incursion down the coastal road is beaten back and the Barcelona army is so weak that they don't trouble me.

I eventually research a light tank (Axis 13 I think) and begin building lots of these. My entrenched positions with artillery support manage to beat back the Madrid attacks and they retreat to safe positions. This is lucky as they manage to get adjacent to a weakly defended airbase. NW of Barcelona city remained fluid but I eventually managed to form a relatively secure border. Bases captured from Barcelona began to come online and these began cranking out units.

In North Portugal, I realised there had been no attacks so I moved around 12 ships into Madrid waters, blew up the 3 or 4 ships there and engaged the base there via shore bombardment. After softening it up, my limited land force moved north and soon overran it. Having eliminated most of the defenders in this area I was able to continue north and east to capture the sea port on the north coast. I also managed to push out from my NE corner of Portugal to make inroads into Madrid territory.

I now discover Hornet technology and can finally build some aircraft. I immediately order 9. My treasury is around $10,000m despite all my military spending. I reduce research from $95m to around $20m as there is little I actually want for now.

I'm now in Sep 2011 (I think). I have 3 major Madrid centres to attack (they have land and air bases) but I've pushed up to the north Barcelona border. Barcelona itself has one centre with land and air bases but they have lots of artillery and aircraft. I need to replenish my forces before taking either of these on. Marseilles has a couple of bases near the Italian border. I have a cluster of units near there adopting a garrison stance. Nothing has happened around there for a while.

My intention is to isolate the SW Madrid base and capture it, then do the same to the north base and finally Madrid. Once that is out of the way, I can drive east to eliminate Barcelona. It will probably be better to attack Paris and let Paris and Marseilles remain fighting each other. Hopefully I shall get a chance to increase my mobile land force. Footsoldiers are chronically slow. I also plan to upgrade some small bases to allow more units to be bought. My kill ratio is around 10-1 which surprises me as some of my moves have been incompetent. It is my first proper game though!

My treasury is very healthy thanks to my ministers doing a good job. I have them hoarding military resources and buying as much petroleum as they can. I have managed to secure some oil centres...I must check on them. DAR has fallen to around 30 but I have captured around 200,000 land from my adventures and I still have around half of the Madrid territory to make mine. Overall score is over 10,000 (whatever that means).

Paris is going to be a major problem as their tech level is 104 (vs 98 for me) and I can only build light tanks. WM weapon offers are non-existant.

More to follow...

[RHood]

Nice AAR very simlar to the way Portugal panned out for me except when i attacked Barcelona his Eurofighters destroyed my airforce in one day and then his attack helicopters did the same to my army.

Not fun?

How did you cope with his airforce?

[3iff]

I just sat there and hoped... I did have a few AA units but not enough. I did get close enough to an airfield and then rushed it with a few recon/tanks and some infantry. Once it was captured I was able to force his planes to rebase at a more distant airport. I'm sure he (Barcelona) still has a good number of planes but they tend to leave me alone as long as I stay far enough from his forces.

I did start the game with 1 F1 and 1 Alpha (IIRC) and they were severely damaged in the first attack. They remain sat at an airbase repairing.

One thing I have realised is that without units having some initiative they cannot go into repair mode on their own. That means I have to order units to repair when they get bashed.

I did notice some units repaired themselves without returning to a base. Is this meant to happen? I simply told them to repair and they sat where they were. I'm not complaining.

[Legend]

Great AAR - has anyone tried the Paris Attacks Walkthrough included in the demo or full version of the game? It's not an AAR but it helps wrap you head around running a country!

[3iff]

Part 2

Madrid have three pockets of resistance, all around military bases. I have a mass of units encircling these places but I'm a bit afraid to attack. Barcelona have an inland pocket and Marseilles is nearly cut off... The northern Madrid pocket is swallowed up easily.

It's April 2011 (not Sep 2011 as I thought!) and I'm building up my forces and chasing down the northern Marseilles territory before Paris can grab it. It's mostly undefended and Paris is a neutral partner in attacking Marseilles. We both corner an enemy and I attack with infantry and tanks while Paris uses a recon and lobs cruise missiles at the target...

...and in the ensuing firefight, Paris declares war on me! Apparently, their unit was hit and it was my fault...a devious and untrustworthy Parisian lie!! Now I'm at war with Paris who have a military strength about 75% of mine. Ah well, I muster what forces I can in the NE and build a line while the units that destroyed the Madrid north pocket move to the west coast of Paris. They soon sweep up towards the first military base while a large navy eliminates all the Paris ships from the area.

I need more units so the SW Madrid pocket is attacked. I eliminate it quite easily and move on to Madrid. This takes a short while and a longer battle ensues but I win. That frees up enough units to eliminate the Barcelona pocket. All this adds plenty of cash to the treasury and I capture lots of planes, including some on Corsica!. The victorious forces then speed on to central and eastern France.

Marseilles northern territory is quickly captured as is western France. We now have hotspots in eastern France and Paris itself. These places have LOTS of air cover. I finally have 6 Hornets. They are badly cut up in my first sortie. A bunch of captured eurofighters do no better as a huge wave of Paris planes circle meanacingly from 2 airbases. I suspect I'm not very good at using aircraft!

A few units veturing to NW Paris are savaged by a plane/heli strike force but I manage to get to the outskirts of NW Paris and even capture the base there. I pack it with artillery and sit tight. I did make an attempt to grab the airbase in SW Paris but got nowhere fast.

I encircle the eastern military base but he has long range artillery there so I have to stand back. My research is bringing me LR artillery but it's taking its time. I camp outside Paris and try and stay out of his range. His planes are a real threat and so I decide to try to capture one of his airfields. If I own it, he can't land there. I push to the airfield east of Paris and after a desperate battle I manage to perch a few light tanks on it. I scrap the base as I'm unlikely to have any planes to land on it!

That makes attacking the SE base much easier. I get the LR artillery and pummel the base for ages, creeping closer to reveal/activate more enemy units to bombard. When I have enough force I launch an attack. I know he has more artillery to the NE but it's only 120mm Mortar and it's less of a threat. The base is surrounded and eventually eliminated. The forces move north to kill a small artillery base near the north coast and a large force moves to SE of Paris ready for the final battle. Those rivers make movement very tricky.

The northern base falls...and Paris surrenders! That was an unexpected and welcome surprise. I capture a mass of Parisian aircraft (badly damaged) and a few land units.

And that's where I finished, at 2.20 in the morning! There's just Marseilles to finish off but my forces are perhaps 5-6 times his strength. He has lots of aircraft too but I don't think he will last that long. I've built an airstrip nearby and I have masses of units to grab the eastern territory adjacent to Italy before I squeeze the life out of him.

Treasury has fallen from $15,000 to aound $10,000. DAR is 26% and I've barely looked at the economy. I did add a couple of oil derricks south of Barcelona but otherwise I've been so busy fighting that I let my ministers run the place. Research is set to $500m but I've been neglecting research as my forces are seemingly able to cope with the enemy and my mismanagement.

That ends this AAR. Once I'm victorious I shall replay but as Paris. I hope this has been helpful. Any questions?

[zedrow]

Great AAR thanks.

It helped me understand the comcepts of the game better and what the focus needs to be on.

Zed

[3iff]

Thanks. That's why I wrote it.

However, I've discovered that different scenarios can play completely dfifferently. Even playing as Paris is different...lots of territory, cash and technology. It's a change to have lots of aircraft, even though I seem to lose them quickly...

[shaolt2002]

I just played the France scenario and found it pretty easy... At first I just put in my favorite cabinet members and for about two days moved all my armies to Marsellies and then declared war on them and conquered them within a week.

After that, Barcelona declared war on me and was conquered within about two weeks because I had to chase them all over Southern Spain.

About two days before they fell, Madrid declared war on me and my eastern border with them was completely undefended except for a few recently built tank units in Paris, but since the AI is stupid (hard difficulty) they still attacked my units in the south which were killing machines in the first place so as it turned out, the sheep went to the wolf and I devoured them.

With my units in Southern Spain and units in Paris, about 90% of them tanks, and about 30 units total, I sped to Madrid and took it and erradicated Madrid from the mainland.

Portugal stupidly attacked me and fell within about three days.

But there were still those islands by southeast Spain that Madrid still occupied and they had literally one unit left but I didn't have ship transports and used 150 days to research and build them and by that time to WM gave Madrid about 20 air defense, artilery and tank units that sunk every one of my ships.

Only then did I realize units can also be air transported but it was too late and I just gave up.